Survivor's Chronicle
by Seryna RPC
Summary: They're not SWAT, STARS or genetically engineered super humans. They're only human- four humans who woke up one day to discover the dead walked. Follow them on their way into hell as they discover terror and madness- and what being human is really about.
1. Chapter 1: Deliver Us

**Chapter One of the Survivor's Chronicle**

**Deliver us**  
_Monday 3: 27 PM_

"How's it coming in here?"  
The question is backed by no small deal of strain- tell tale signs that their safety is threatened.  
The mind summons horrific images unbidden- all of them involving failure and death- or worse. It all hinges on our plan- and Kinsey's part of the plan is the most detail- oriented.

"I need a few more minutes. Can you give me that?"  
The sound of paper crackling fills the air as a harried woman shakes the next overlay of maps out. "Keep them of us."  
"We can see their teeth through the 'cades, Kinsey." Feeling the pressure, an agitated glance is shot across the makeshift table to the speaker.

The bearer of bad news is leaning on the table, his fingers splayed out between the maps that have already been searched through. New calluses are forming over his palms- a fresh gash is visible over his knuckles. The bloods already clotting... near the beginning of the siege is as near as it can be placed. He wouldn't pull himself from the fight for anything short of being overtaken in moments.

Olive colored skin bristling with two-day growth rests beneath searching eyes the color of slate. The ever-changing eyes of Ryan are penetrating through Kinsey's dark ones, imploring the gravity of the rapidly unraveling plan. Mirroring his gaze, an equally desperate situation is reflected back to him.

Rocking back from the table, Ryan takes the news badly as his slender form twists to look back the way he has come. Shadows fall across his features that are at odds with one another. A genetic puppeteer has captured the brow and eyes of a troubled mathematician and submitted a model's hallowed cheeks and just- right chin. In any other chance encounter, his closest ally would have dismissed him as a pretty playboy and never would have known the brilliant strategist lurking behind those eyes.

Privately, Kinsey believes that same reaction would have denied their friendship which had been forged through need. Passably pretty, no one would ever compare the daughter of jet mechanic to a model. A no- nonsense bob of dirty blond hair rests atop of the mind of someone with a brilliant eye- to see things. Patterns, designs, images trapped beneath marble- and when thrust into an alien and deadly world, routes to safety. When pressed, routes to their strongest desires.

Not a trace of makeup is apparent on her pale face, not that the two days on the run has had any affect on her normal indifference to her appearance.

The gaping holes in what they knew of one another has always stuck going down Kinsey's comprehension, some partially digested piece of whom someone was- here & now, with no knowledge of who they were Before.

"Than reinforce the cades."  
Fire is put into her voice, backed by steel resolve. If we cut and run now with nowhere to go, we'd be picked off. We'd die in the streets. The lucky ones would die.

Ducking her head, the bob is all Ryan can see of the inscrutable woman as she immerses herself in the work.  
There's a surprised outcry in the outer room and Ryan breaks into a run, muttering a curse as he departs.

"Three over..." Nails bitten to the quick trail along a map, looking at the building plans. The nominated Navigator could get us out of this building easily, but the whole 'burb was infested. We wouldn't be able to rest after the siege that's started before dawn.

Low on ammo before, it was hinging on her ability to get us to a cache of weapons not obvious to the hordes. The last overrun police station had been the beginning of today's' horror.

Only through Kinsey's recollection of the building layout had the group been able to hole up in their safe house that had sheltered them for the better part of the day. The more independent survivors who had been looting in the P.D. alongside them had not heeded her 'hunch' ... and had paid for it.

Recognition sparks behind smudged glasses as the route is traced with a finger trembling with anticipation and a great deal of stress.

"Ryan!" A triumphant shout lifts the spirit of the men who were straining at the doors and windows of their makeshift safe house.  
"I have it!"

Rustling clothes are the only audible sound that the crew emits. Stretching out from her perch on the window, Kinsey Kowalsic is twelve feet from the concrete below- there's no sign of the horde yet. Fate has given them a reprieve- the excitement of breaking through the last of the barricades has pulled the undead from their positions outside of the safe house.

Strong hands grip her, pulling her across the void onto a small hutch of a balcony. It was a swift call to avoid having her hip jutted against a rather ill-placed gnome. The balcony was even smaller than it had appeared on the plans. Chiding herself on her estimation of their bodies in proportions to the route she had planned, she turned to check on the rest of the crew.

Ryan is already stepping onto the pompous barrier intended to keep some innocent toddler from toppling over the side.

As he finds purchase above, Kinsey receives a cumbersome pack from across the way that contains their priceless maps and her plotted routes. Shouldering the pack, the undaunted woman stretched out to guide the third adventurer onto the balcony.

Always a touch on the reckless side, he leaps to close the distance to her. Fingers are splayed over his head as he leaps across the void. He slows in mid air as though he might not make it.

Already committed, his legs follow his bodies leap through space in his silent gamble with gravity.

Her heart hammers in her chest as outstretched fingers glide over the loose fitting plaid button up shirt plastered to his body. They catch under his arms and lock across his broad back, wrenching him away from the yawning concrete abyss below. Locked in a precarious embrace, the two survivors lean towards the cramped hutch where a dusty barbecue lords over the only one to remain as the world spiraled into hell. It's the same hideous thing Kinsey almost ran into- a rather kamikaze- looking garden gnome whose expression looked almost gleeful at their plight.

Bracing her arm against the wall Ryan is in the process of scaling, her scathing remark hurls through the air.  
"Burke, your an idiot- I almost didn't catch you!"

"Than I would have had a lovely evening jog."  
'Burke' is the only name this strapping young man has offered his new companions, a lone name stretching over his reckless nature and buoyant deposition that seemed to refuse to be apprehensive about their situation. Even if falling down to the streets below would bear his tender flesh to the merciless horde nipping on their heels- and that was just the horde that they knew about.

"Up, now." Fingers knitted together to form a stirrup to hoist her up to the roof. The hutch has become bulky with the two of them, taking into account the cumbersome pack that extended from Kinsey's back and Burke's muscular frame that looked to be ripped right off of RAW. There's a bit of time wasted trying to turn in the small space as the two shuffled around the other.

By now Ryan has already crouched low to the roof, his waiting hand held aloof to catch Kinsey. The positioning of each of the crew had proven to match speed with versatility- Ryan's height has allowed him to stretch greater distances, Kinsey's climbing aptitude had pulled the crew through a touchy situation around the church's bell tower and Burke's strength hastened the heavier and oldest member of their crew along.

As this decision was revisited, Ryan's eyes lift momentarily from the situation on the hutch -he would not call it a balcony- to the one at the safe house they had just left. The last member of the crew was perched outside of the windowsill patiently, giving him a small nod back.

'I'm all right." He seemed to relate across that chasm of No Mans Land to Ryan with that steady gaze. "Although it is getting a bit hot this side of Dodge. I would love to come across to safety, if it wouldn't be any trouble."

Lincoln Segher was without a doubt the most purpose- driven and collected man Ryan had ever come across. In a situation where everyone seemed to succumb to the stress and go a bit crazy, he remained polite and courteous. Grey was threatening to overtake his mop of black hair, making him their elder by several years. A well made shirt stretched taunt over a broad chest that spoke of many years of active living.

Wordlessly accepting the help, Kinsey nimbly moves against the young man. Marveling at how easily she is catapulted upwards as her foot is supported by the makeshift platform of the young bodybuilders' body; her eyes reflexively glanced back at Lincoln. As she does so, a sharp splintering of wood cuts through their silence, her blood instantly running cold.

Ryan's swift capture and pull on her hand brings her back to her body with startling clarity as she struggled to find purchase on the slopped roof.

Crawling past him, she resisted his efforts to take her pack -"You'll need your hands, the 'cades just broke next door."

Scrambling forward on all fours until she reached the end of the roof, realization dawned that the next step of their route looks to be the easiest.

A new supermarket had recently been completed- and the workers had yet to tidy up the signs. A rigging hung snugly next to the roof- adjusting her glasses, she could see that a platform stretched the distance between the two buildings. Peering down the side of the apartment they were scaling revealed another rigging attached to this building.

Pulling her pack free, she appreciated the weight being lifted from her shoulders. Rising up to a crouch, she swung the pack and calculated the force to hurl the pack to the supermarket roof. It thudded unceremoniously on the other side.

Turning around to shimmy down on her belly, she hung as her feet investigated below her. Starring upwards at the darkening sky, Kinsey persisted in her exploratory work until her toes brushed a surface.

Carefully swinging her body away from the wall to give her legs more reach, Kinsey guessed that this was the rigging that she had seen.

Trusting her calculations, Kinsey released her hold on the wall. Falling down the side of the building, gravity pulled her into a horizontal dive.

_Monday 7: 49 PM_

"That should do it." Kinsey replied as she wrapped the excess back onto the roll of bandages.  
As Kinsey bandages his hand, Ryan recalls Kinsey's actions while he and Burke had been escaping with Lincoln.

His heart still leaped into his throat when he remembered seeing Kinsey walking across the narrow platform between the constructions rigging around the building. As agile as any tightrope artist, he recalled the total absence of fear in her eyes.

Burke, however, had an issue with heights... that expression brought a faint smile to Ryan's face.

Pulling himself back into the present, Ryan examined his hand. The cut wasn't very bad, but there were no Band Aids in the communal pack.  
Infection had become a large concern since they had witnessed someone- an average looking someone- **Turn** in the streets while they were en route towards the P.D. yesterday.

Glancing over to the slumbering forms, he remarked.  
"Its amazing how they can just drop."

"After that escape..." Kinsey finished mentally.  
"I know, I'm still wired."

Her gaze followed his, noting the two sleeping with their extra shirt balled for a pillow.

It reminded her that they had been forced to run and leave behind most of the provisions that they had scrounged that day.  
Reaching for her pack, she looked through with concern.

"We still have the guns." She noted the four pistols that they had picked up. "Not much ammo, though. Some must have fallen during... the breach."

Ryan wordlessly settled beside her on the floor, looking into the pack. He noted with dismay that they had nowhere near the amount they had hoped to get- they had planned on mounting an offensive tomorrow.

Then we had to bolt for the roofs when zombies broke into the Police Department. We were restocking at the P.D- and this has put us back…

"Not much food... we can have an orange for breakfast." Travel time was calculated mentally as she recalled the route that she had laid out. "We should reach the mall around 4 'o'clock tomorrow."

It was seven o'clock at night. After the narrow escape, they had climbed for another hour to escape the horde on their heels. Luckily enough, the zombies didn't seem to be able to smell them while they moved across the roofs or scuttled across stairwells and fire escapes.

The barricades in the buildings they were climbing across had looked shabby, so they didn't have a chance to rest until they had reached the school that Kinsey had chosen. This suburb seemed to be much better than the last- no groans harassed them through the walls, no fists pounded on the barricades they had nailed up with pieces from nearby bleachers and desks.

Slumbering in the gym- due to the high windows as an emergency exit point- absolute darkness was threatening to overtake the four. Kinsey had set their lone flashlight between them while she had bandaged his hand.

Contemplative, the two fell silent. Two days ago all four of them had been total strangers. Now, they were always together.

It was them against the world.

**Inception**

Ryan could still remember wandering the streets two nights ago, alone and very confused. At first he thought that there had been a terrorist attack when he came across a slew of dead bodies at the 7-11 where he bought his coffee every morning.

Stepping across the doorway, he had seen the zombie devouring the shopkeeper. In shock and suffering through his urge to vomit, he had witnessed someone -Burke- attempt to save the shopkeeper armed with a Louisville slugger.

In the mess that had followed, Ryan had clocked the zed with a nearby fire extinguisher and ran from the scene with Burke. The shopkeeper had died- and given chase after them with his murderer.

Very frightened and confused, the two had been attempting to break into a nearby bar- which had bars across the windows. Their angel- Kinsey- had forcibly dragged them in off the street and continued to nail the door shut behind them.  
The one breaking up stuff to use as barricades was Linc, who had wandered across Kinsey liberating some water bottles about twenty minutes earlier.

That first night together had been very traumatic- and had formed a bond between the four that made up the group.

Kinsey hadn't slept at all, choosing instead to crouch by the door with a hammer in hand.  
Lincoln had fallen off and pitched and turned something awful. No one said anything about it to him when he woke up on the hour, every hour.

Ryan had passed that night worried about his parents- they lived right outside the town limits and didn't watch the news very often. 'Depressing bias' his mother had once confided to him.

Two evenings had passed since then and no one knew about their loved ones. The town had been quarantined- and each of them possessed loved ones outside of the city limits. Cell phones didn't work- and they had quickly discovered most of their possessions had to be abandoned to stay agile & mobile.

Glancing over, Ryan noticed that Kinsey had fallen asleep, slouched against the pack.

A feeling of relief surged through him, for Kinsey's bouts with insomnia were worrying him something fierce. He suspected that something had happened while she slept- but she had been tight-lipped on why she couldn't sleep.

As he balled up a T-shirt to place under her head and laid her down on the floor gently, he reflected that they really didn't know each other very well.

Ryan didn't know what her middle name was, if she had a boyfriend- he knew she wasn't married, for she wasn't wearing a ring. That she was practical had been picked up quickly- she had led the looting of necessities like food and water.

Glancing over to Lincoln, he recalled he was the one who knew precisely where the police department was. That had been a little weird.  
Lincoln had taught Kinsey how to aim with a gun they had found while looting the P.D- and had the patient tone of a teacher. Maybe he was one as that profession.

Settling in to keep watch, it was unsettling how much he didn't know about the crew. They had instantly started calling themselves that when they planned the morning activities.

Find out about our family; get enough weapons to kill those undead bastards; save people. That was their little creed, no matter how modest their beginnings.

_Tuesday 12 noon_

As noon rolled around, Kinsey was peering out of the high windows above their heads. The windows overlooked the school main and had no direct access to the streets and had not been barricaded. They afforded a small smidgen of the street passing the school that Kinsey was studying.

Their things had already been packed up for they were normally on the roof by one PM. The zeds seemed to be more active at pre-dawn hours and less active in the heat of the day.

It would make the next trek a bear with the sun bearing down on them, but they had to get to the mall. Breakfast had consisted of a solitary orange apiece and no one was kidding themselves about the state of their armory.

The mall seemed to be the best bet to find what they needed.  
"It looks clear." Kinsey reported as she joined them.

"Let's get going then." Burke replied conversationally, slipping a gun into the waistband of his jeans. Ryan felt himself uneasy with that development, but said nothing.

Everyone had agreed they could not fight until they had enough ammo to do it right.

Shouldering the pack, Ryan followed Kinsey out to start breaking the barricades down to rejoin the world.

_Tuesday- 4:26 PM_

Ackland Mall  
When it was realized there was no way to reach the mall from the roofs, the group had been forced them to slow down. It was then they realized that the parking lot was littered with bodies. A cluster of determined looking people with weapons were crouched beside wooden crates beside the barricades of the mall entrance.

Ackland Mall was a madhouse. This was agreed on within the first ten minutes of their

arrival. As they evaluated the building from the roof of a nearby sporting goods store, a man in a blue sweater vest had shot someone who had walked across the parking lot. Immediately a volley of shots from the mall defenders cut him down where he stood.  
Green-clad men, two of them- had emerged from an opening high above the barricades and had carried the wounded man who had been attacked without provocation into the Mall. The man who had shot the passerby was left lying on the concrete, clearly dead.

"It seems pretty clear cut." Lincoln determined. "Walk out in plain sight and look non-threatening. Harmless as baby bunnies. Not shooting some random guy might help with that."  
Burke evaluated the body of the most recently dead, not looking convinced. "Is he gonna Turn?"

"Doesn't look like it."  
"Must only be bitten ones. Like the movies."  
"Creepy mess."

In the end, Kinsey and Ryan had stepped into sight of the mall, hands up and guns tucked out of sight. After pausing to ensure a barrage of bullets wouldn't make them take cover, Lincoln and Burke joined them walking towards the mall.

The gun toting defenders barely glanced at them as they dropped through the chute. Set up in prone and standing positions, they clearly took this seriously.

"You hurt?" A high pitched voice demanded as a nervous looking man clad in green ran up to them. A short man with a fuzzy mass of red hair peeking out from beneath his green cap was evaluating them.

"What's this?" Without waiting to hear an explanation, he had seized Ryan's bandaged hand. Almost immediately Burke was beside the little man, his own hand weighing heavy on his arm.

"I have FAKs!" The man chirped, attempting to shrug out of Burke's grip. This attracted the nearest gun toting defender, who leveled Burke with a flat stare.  
"He's a doctor, won't hurt you none."

The doctor was released and immediately opened a small portable First Aid Kit. "You haven't been disinfected have you?" The man didn't seem offset by Burke's behavior.  
"I washed it out." Kinsey offered.

"Was it a bite?"  
"No. Scratched it on a nail climbing over barricades."  
"Seen any zeds since then?"

"Saw what?"  
"Zombie bastards." The stern defender offered from his position. He had stood and was wandering closer to them, a shotgun under his arm.  
"Yeah. We had a scuffle with them in Lurkinswood."  
"I'll give you this then." The man had pulled out a wipe and ripped it open, wiping it over the open wound. Resisting the urge to snap at the unexpected pain, Ryan watched the expert way the man bandaged him back up with a clean bandage.

"You get bit, disinfect." The man was advising, handing Kinsey the opened first aid kit. "There's a stack of these in the pharmacy inside. You guys aren't reviver's, are you?"

"No." Came the collective answer from equally puzzled people.

"I got it, Rex." The burly man told the doctor, who was happy to hurry off without being thanked.  
"You lot have been holed up, huh?"  
"That obvious?"  
"Lot of people are coming out lately. Food, water... unreality. There's a gun shop to the left-" He turned and pointed.  
"Everyone can help themselves. Recommend you don't sleep here, we're enforcing a barricade plan out there. Been a string of kills around here lately, so be careful. Stock up and sleep somewhere else. You think of defending the Mall, you come on back here."

With muttered thanks, the group moved on to restock. The mall was a restocking paradise, but the slew of questions at finding people was startling. Why had that man shot the other one? What was reviving?

Spotting the doctor bent over a crouching man, Kinsey vowed to find out as she grabbed an armful of FAKs and headed over towards him.

"Its how you bring them back." The doctor replied as he swabbed an open wound with another disinfectant wipe. His patient- an Asian man of about thirty- winced but did not complain.

"Bring them back?"

"From being zeds. One stick- and bang. Dead body."

"Sounds easy."

"Its not." The doctor closed up his kit and glanced around. Kinsey guessed that he was looking for more patients.

"Its tricky. I can teach you, if you want. Plan on hitting the revive point tomorrow afternoon."

"Okay." Kinsey agreed. "I'll be there. What time?"

_Tuesday 11: 47 PM_

Swearing jolts Kinsey from her sleep. It had been fitful at best, yet she finds herself resentful as she struggles out of her sleeping bag. A decent night's sleep around the mall was becoming a myth. The lull of sleep recedes as sounds of danger fuel her limbs to move faster.

'Danger' is the sound of nails scraping wood and of hands and feet beating on the barricades that had been erected before they had settled down to sleep. The worst sounds were the listless moans of the zombies; it seemed to chill the marrow of her bones.

"Kinsey!" Ryan shouts over his shoulder. His voice is strained as he stands beside Burke, supporting the barricades with their hands. To her left, Lincoln is tearing down the interior of the safe house to make more material for barricades. It looked like the bathroom door was first on the list- as privacy dies.

"Kinsey, get-"

"I'm here." Kinsey replied at his elbow. Accepting a piece of wood from Linc, she placed it over a thin area of the barricades. She winced reflexively at seeing dead, dirty fingers prying at the cracks. The wooden pieces that had been nailed together earlier were being pulled down from the outside.

Linc leaned over her shoulder to place a nail. As he drew the hammer back, the sound of splintering wood was the only warning.

A hand burst through the weak spot in the wood. It was a mangled, dead head of a more seasoned zombie. This was registered in about two seconds as the hand groped about. With stunning precision, it honed in on Ryan and seized him by the front of his shirt.

As Ryan was pulled against the barricades, Kinsey locked her arms around his waist. As she braced her feet and pulled with all her strength, Ryan pushed off of the barricades. The hand was now aided by the horde- a gaping mouth could be seen pressed up against the opening. It was a frightening visage of modern dentistry with partially digested meat- human, no doubt- caught between silvery cavities.

**BAM!**

The gunshot fired at close range shocks ones' senses. The second and third shots are no better, but it's clear that Burke's aim is improved with each shot. As Ryan and Kinsey fly backwards from the opening, Lincoln slams a piece of wood over it and nails with a renewed sense of urgency.

"Damn." Burke remarks as he tucks the gun back in its holster and steps up beside Lincoln.

"Shit." Ryan pants as he sits up. His shirt is examined- it's torn down the front, but the skin on his chest is intact. The close call sparks conflicting emotions. "Shit!"

"You're telling me. Never shot anything before."

"This isn't working." Lincoln's normally calm voice was strained. "I'm out of wood."

"What about the cabinets-"

"That's blended cheap crap. Won't hold."

Fear stole over the four as they stared at each other, terrified.


	2. Chapter 2: Grieving Process

**Grieving process**

_Wednesday 12: 14 AM_

The thudding of feet pounding pavement breaks up the moaning backdrop of the night. Giving up on the safe house completely, the four were racing through the streets in search of shelter. A stitch was beginning to tear of Ryan's side when Linc s voice cut through him.

"Down there- see it?"

"What?"

Linc led at a jog in the direction that he had pointed at. As they got closer, a vine- covered retaining wall was visible. Explaining about solid craftsmanship, the man vaulted over the wall and out of sight. Quickly following suit, the group realized that they were in an untouched paradise. The well manicured lawn that they had fallen into suggested regular maintenance, as did the old money smell of the house itself.

"This neighborhood is older." Linc was explaining. "Nothing slapped together for young couples starting out. The house has stood the test of time."

"So we're betting it can withstand zombies?"

"Wonder why they haven't hit here already?"

Linc was staring upwards. After a moment, the others fell silent and did the same- and nearly cried out in alarm. A dark figure was draped over the balcony, staring down at them. It was almost mistaken for a zombie until the wracked sobs registered.

Linc carried a mug of tea into the bedroom although Ryan couldn't see how it would be expected to help. The woman was crying and ranting in strings of Spanish that no one understood. That she'd let them in was a mark in the direction that she wasn't in her right mind. The woman accepted the mug complacently; the liquid held between her trembling hands maintained a tremulous grasp of the interior of the mug. Her tear stained face was oval and light skinned. Listless swaths of dark hair framed her face untidily; suggesting that she was so in shock personal grooming had fallen by the wayside. One couldn't help but noticed the exceptional quality of the furniture, likely worth several hundred dollars apiece. Spanish was softly spoken, although she could be prompted to reply in snatches of English that suggested she was fluent in both languages.

Leaving Linc to it, Ryan checked on Burke and Kinsey's progress. The beautiful sliding glass doors onto the balcony were in the process of being boarded up. The downstairs of the house had already been seen to by someone else. The woman? Another family member? Assuming that the woman wouldn't throw them out, the trio began to explore the house. It was a beautiful house, an antique style that Ryan couldn't recall. There were four bedrooms on the third floor. Two had the homey sense of being lived in- one was covered in rock posters. The state of the art computer on the desk was dusty.

The next room was covered in soccer posters and memorabilia- although hair products and jewelry boxes suggested that the soccer enthusiast was a teenage girl. Kinsey voiced concern over the children's whereabouts that no one had the heart to guess after. There were two bedrooms prepared as guest rooms that they dropped their gear in- all four dingy backpacks that were their sole possessions.

Prompted by guilt to check on their hostess, they found her responding to Linc's patient presence. Linc had scrapped together enough to learn that her name was Carmen Doroteo, this was her home and that her husband had died earlier that morning. That she'd seen him shambling around the corner market had caused all of the emotional angst.

"I want my Miguel to have peace." Carmen gasped, pressing a proffered Kleenex to her wet face.

Kinsey hesitantly mentioned the revivification process that Carmen seized with maniac glee.

"My Miguel can live again? You are sure?"

"I can't do it." Kinsey had to be honest. "But friends of ours are going out to revive this afternoon- we'll be sure to look for him."

Carmen collapsed in tears of relief. After awhile of comforting, Carmen composed herself to tell them to make themselves at home and apologized that she couldn't serve them anything as she hadn't made dinner for herself.

Waving off her efforts to serve them, Linc encouraged her to rest as Burke went downstairs to scrounge up dinner.

An hour later, every window had been barricaded, the travelers had showered, eaten the delicious tamales that Burke had cooked and most were bedding down for the night. Deciding to stay up and keep watch, Ryan moved restlessly through out the house. He'd adopted a patrol of peering out of the peephole they'd left in the balcony on the second floor and another peephole out of the third floor. The house was quiet, something that was jarring after becoming accustomed to the groans and resulting panic of breaches. The night went on with Ryan as their edgy night watchman.

_Wednesday 12:16 PM_

"Ryan! Carmen!"

Jolting upright, Ryan discovered himself lying atop of a bed in the guest room. His shoes had been taken off, but he couldn't remember doing that or going to bed. Stumbling out into the main hall, he narrowly avoided bumping into Burke.

"Hey, you sleepy bastard." Burke greeted with a light swipe at Ryan's shoulder. "You don't look any better than this morning."

"This morning?"

"We put you to bed at like, 6 AM. What, you don't remember?"

Ryan was piecing together a reply from his sleep muddled brain when a small form darted between him and Burke and kept on charging down the hall with child- like dexterity.

"She has kids?"

"Hell no, these are the Valencia lot."

"What?"

Before Burke could answer an older child- about thirteen for her height- huffed into view. "Did he come by here?" The question was directed to Burke.

"Yeah, think he's in the head." Burke indicated the closed door down the hall.

"Oh." She looked to Ryan, her eyes taking in his disheveled appearance. "Hi."

"Hi." Ryan replied back, his voice mired in confusion.

"Cristina Valencia." Burke began introductions. "Oldest of the Valencia family, you're what, thirteen?"

"Yeah."

"Ryan Milstone, resident insomniac and cade watcher extraordinaire. " Burke finished with a grin. "We went out for supplies and found her family under siege from a small horde. We killed 'em and brought the kids home."

"You're parents are here too?"

"No." A bit of a waver came into the voice. Having had enough time to map it out, a clear Spanish accent could be detected in her voice although she spoke English perfectly. Realizing he'd been insensitive, Ryan quickly backtracked and apologized. They trumped downstairs where the crew was situating two more children and a teenage boy with a meal. From the way they were wolfing down the pancakes, it was guessed they'd been living lean. Introductions were made, revealing the kids to all are related. Cristina and her boyfriend Anton were the oldest at 13 and 14. Cristina's brother Chavo was 11 and her cousins Maria and Saniah were 8 and 6, respectively.

"How long were you in the trailer by yourself?" Kinsey was asking the group gently, filling Saniah's glass with more orange juice.

"Since Monday." Cristina replied, joining the brunch. "After school gets out, I watch everyone till 7 o' clock when my- when Stacey gets home. "

"Whose Stacey?"

"She never came home." Emotion lined Cristina's voice as she speared a piece of pancake, savagely ending its maple laced bliss. "Two days and she never came home. I don't know where our mom is, she's supposed to get home at nine." After a moment she adds. "She works two jobs. Stacey was supposed to be helping out and she never bothered to come home. Real nice, huh?"

"Lot of responsibility, taking care of everyone so long." Burke mentioned, moping up a spillover from Saniah's plate. "You did real well, Cristina."

"I tried." Some of the anger faded from Cristina as she looked between everyone, indecisive.

"We'll find your parents and Stacey. You guys finish up; we'll be over here…"

"They'll stay with us, right?" Burke started off when they'd adjourned in the living room for privacy. "Ain't right, those kids living alone like that for so long.'

"You think they're parents would have- hopefully they're alright…"

"They stay with us." Ryan agreed. "We'll talk to Carmen and her husband afterwards, see if they mind us crashing here,"

"Oh, Miguel!" Kinsey started. "I have to go meet Rex at the mall to track her husband down. Is Carmen up, yet?"

"I didn't even know she was here." Ryan admitted sheepishly.

"You two were still up when we all woke up, so we decided you needed a rest." Linc explained kindly. "She'll want to join us in finding her husband; I'll go tell her we're ready to leave."

"Some of us should stay home with the kids, watch the cades."

"I'll stay with you." Burke agreed quickly. After a few minutes of discussion, it was agreed that Linc, Kinsey and Carmen would go to meet Rex at the Mall to revive Carmen's husband while Burke and Ryan stayed at the Doroteo estate with the kids.

**Best laid plans…**

_Wednesday 1:36 PM _

"You're sure you're alright?" Kinsey asked for the twelfth time, marveling at Miguel's recovery. Saving Miguel from another affirmation, Rex cut in.

"You handled yourself well back there, kid. Most times, people freak at their first revive point."

Recalling her initial visceral reaction within her gut at seeing the small horde of zombies milling mindlessly about the corner market, Kinsey could see why.

"How is it that they know about the revive point?"

"The zeds?" Rex clarified. "Dunno for sure- but we think some people don't have it in them to be the undead. They gather together away from folk and just cease to be. Not men, not zeds- they're just waiting to be found- and stuck with a needle."

"It was a most disturbing feeling." Miguel broke away from his quite murmuring with his wife to add.

"It's… terrible, truly terrible." The harrowed look in his eyes drove the point home, just as the bone deep dread in his heavily accented speech. "I never want to feel that way again."

"Where to?" Linc asked, gently breaking the tension.

"I need to get back to the Mall." Rex informed. "That's where I keep my cache of supplies and I promised to go out with the defenders tomorrow to Richmond Hills."

He continued to explain there was a RP that needed help in the neighboring town while Kinsey listened with rapt attention, having found a macrebe fascination with reviving. "Actually, I was thinking we should stop by the mall." Linc said to Kinsey. "The kids we picked up look a bit ragged and we picked up supplies for four people yesterday, not eleven."

In quick agreement, the group accompanied Rex back to Ackland Mall, where they spent the better part of an hour restocking. Taking a quick lunch in the food court before heading home, a gun- toting young man approached where the four were eating.

"Is it true?" He asked without preamble.

Forcing down the last swallow of her Kung Pao chicken, Kinsey managed. "Is what true?"

"That you all have kids." He looked between the four even as they sat back and exchanged silent looks with one another, deciding. That alone was confirmation for the questioner, who waved over to a neighboring table. Half a dozen men clambered over, looking much less grim than Kinsey thought they had looked moments before.

"Rex told us." The stranger replied to the unasked question. "We've known Rex for a bit, he's helped us out of a rough patch. Got Gambe here back on his feet from lying on his damned back."

He thumped the nearest sheet of muscle who guffawed appreciatively.

"We all have a bit of a thing with kids getting eaten. It isn't right and if they're parents can't look out for them, it's damned right of you to step up."

"Ah… thanks." Kinsey replied, surprised by the feeling behind the surprisingly articulate speech.

"So what are you proposing?" Linc asked, wisely offering the chair beside him to the speaker. Lowering her fork, Kinsey looked the men over. The one who had approached first easily topped six feet, with ash blond hair cropped close to his head. Black seemed to be the theme of clothing with them- each wore black T Shirts and Dickies. As they moved, she noticed they set gear by their feet that included Kevlar vests.

"We'd like to join up with you- we're thinking we'd come in handy, right you assholes?" The men at his back laughed loudly. One leaned in towards Kinsey and confided that they were all from the same prescient- police prescient. This smoothed things out considerably as the group shared a bit of a relieved laugh. Kinsey reflected that it was sad that people they met were met with suspicion these days- but there were killings going on that weren't all being done at the hands of zeds. Who better to help out than Malton's finest?

"Gambe here-"

The wiry olive- skinned man named Argolan indicated the younger man setting out a platter of egg rolls on the table. "He's the rookie. Been in all of a year- two hours into this hell, he bit the big one!"

Gambe took the teasing well, mentioning that Argolan had been so level headed- he'd put two bullets in Gambe's Kevlar – after he'd Turned.

The group laughed at Argolan's expression that summed up the hilarious story pretty well. "What about you?" Kinsey asked the ash blond 'leader', who so far remained nameless.

"Stephan Tietz. Homicide detective,"

There was some private joke the by the amused expressions of the other police officers. "That mothball there is my partner, Ray Cross."

After a joke about Cross' jacket of insubordination files, the group finished introductions and tucked into lunch- they seemed eager to check out the set up at the Doroteo estate.

The officers helped pack up some of the fresh produce being stored in China Chicken's refrigerators and they got on their way to the Doroteo estate with sixteen more helpful hands than they'd started off with. The ambitious doctor had pressed a small medical bag in Kinsey's hand before they departed- and she was surprised to see precious revivification syringes lined up neatly within. He sent her off with a knowing look, plunging back into his work.

Shouldering thier packs, the group stepped into the decimated streets to start the long trek back to the relatively untouched region of Shore Hills.


	3. Chapter 3: Relative Chaos

Wednesday 3:00 PM

_Wednesday 3:00 PM_

Burke and Ryan were up to their waists in complaining children. What had started off as a simple choice of the children's sleeping arrangements for tonight had spiraled into sibling squabbling. Chavo was refusing to sleep in a room with 'babies', which had upset Christina. As the two squabbled and Anton wisely stayed out of it, the two little girls whispered amongst themselves in Spanish. The men stared at the two perfectly good rooms that they'd suggested, incredible.

"What's wrong here?" Carmen's voice sliced through the rising argument and Ryan's ineffective cajoling. Summing up the situation, the mother smoothly settled Maria and Saniah into her daughter's room, Anton and Chavo into her sons' and suggested that Kinsey would like Christina to join her in Kinsey's room.

It must be the 'mother voice', Burke decided as he hefted Kinsey's pack into her new room next to the room he'd share with Ryan and Linc. This would be the first time they'd be separated, he realized with a jolt. For three days, they'd eaten, traveled- and slept side by side. Probably wouldn't be proper for us to sleep so close with kids around. Even though Kinsey hadn't shown interest in anyone, it might put ideas in the young couples' heads.

"Chinese! Kinsey announced from the downstairs kitchen as she set down a carrier bag. As Ryan recognized the logo for China Chicken, it dawned that he didn't know the two gun toting guys coming in behind Kinsey.

"Who-"

"Put it in the fridge, will ya?" Kinsey directed. To Ryan's surprise, the black clad man began trying to arrange cartons of fresh vegetables and frozen meet.

"Gambe and Argolan."

"What?" Ryan turned to face the blonde man who was suddenly beside him- and the others who moved to look out of the windows.

"Those are the guys who're in your kitchen. Tietz." He extended a hand which Ryan shook.

After plates were dished up and long eaten, the four adjourned into the kitchen with the dirty dishes- at Kinsey's insistence.

"You want to do what?"

"Look for their family." Kinsey insisted. "Their mother and sister is out there somewhere."

"I'm not sure-"

"Look, I'm not asking permission." Kinsey barged on. "I have a pistol and about six shots and a backpack full of bottle water. I'm heading out to where their mother works."

"Not alone you're not." Burke insisted. "We'll find someone to stay with the kids-"

"We will." Carmen walked into her kitchen, taking down a glass from the cabinet. "And two of those police officers are dead on their feet. I'm sure they wouldn't mind looking after us and drinking some lemonade."

_Wednesday 3: 46 PM_

After bidding the kid's goodbye while avoiding making promises they couldn't keep- a stab straight through the heart- seven men and a woman trekked out into the eerily quiet suburb.

Following Kinsey's route, the group was just a block away from the school where Macaria Valencia worked when a scream split the air.

"Whazza!" Gambe whipped out his gun, aiming it at the scream.

The civilians followed after the policemen, loping into a sprint towards the scream. The cause was clear- the sounds of splintering wood were punctuated by meaty grumblings of the horde right in front of them.

"Get some cover." Tietz directed woodenly. "Fan out." His hand indicated the row of parked cars and such that surrounded the – Kinsey's heart jerked. It was a day care center.

Bullets ripped through decaying flesh as the police picked their shots. The zombies lurched unsteadily towards them, redirecting their lunging grasps.

Kinsey dropped down behind a battered minivan, fingering the trigger of her pistol. Her breath came in short gasps as she listened to the rapport of gun fire and the grotesque sounds of the zombies wounding.

Peeking around the vehicle, she immediately regretted it. A solitary zed had wandered away from the firefight, following a wire fence around the back of the day care center. As Kinsey watched in horror, it began to batter its way through the feeble barrier.

The recoil was jarring, but the shots she fired seemed to have no effect on the zombie in her sights.

It was determined to get into the Day Care center. Kinsey focused on carefully aiming for its head- when its head rammed through the fence, hauling its body out of sight.

Kinsey swore and scrambled to her feet, chasing after the zombie.

The back yard was littered in discarded toys that made Kinsey's heart ache for the children within. As she carefully peered around the corner of the center, gun first- she took in the broken back door grimly. The power had been disconnected inside; lending strength to the long shadows that clung to the walls and stretched out to meet one another. As she made her way through a cheerily decorated lobby, another scream pierced the gloom- followed by another and another…

**"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" **The small boy wailed from behind the slender form of a blonde teenage girl. Her face was a mask of terror, yet she stood her ground- and aimed a device Kinsey couldn't quite see. Whatever the blonde did, the zombie whips its head about mightily, giving vehement grunts-

**BAM!**

A chunk of its skull slapped wetly against Kinsey's left shoe.

"I was wondering when you'd pick your moment." A composed voice came from beside Kinsey. Turning, she took in the matronly form of a woman in her early fifties, dressed in a lilac blouse and sensible black pants. In her hands, a fire extinguisher was aimed at the body of the zombie. After a quick examination, the woman lowered the makeshift weapon and went to the child, who buried himself in her knees.

"Who are you?" The teenager asked Kinsey, lowering her hand to her side, a cylinder of mace visible in her grip.

Introducing herself, Kinsey explained that her friends had responded to a scream. As she spoke, several children crept out from hiding places to join the teenager and the older woman, who comforted them with familiarity. Kinsey counted at least seven children.

"We did alright at first." Carol, the coordinator of Sunrise Daycare Center, began her explanation of the three day ordeal of hiding in the center with seven charges and only a teenage girl to help. She paused to command a young girl not to tug on the officer's utility belt. The children and their two caretakers had joined the group for the trek back to the Dorteo estate, making the trip an unplanned rescue. The rescuers were incredulous that the children were clean, well fed and cried for want of their parents more from bodily harm.

"These children were staying late for an after school reading program when it happened. The program is to work on children's comprehension, sort of an advanced program." Carol explained as she dished out bowls of steaming Chinese to the children seated at the kitchen table.

"Stacey is the only worker to regularly come- most of the other girls aren't so reliable, you know-"

"Reliable? That's a laugh." Christina glared from the doorway. She resembled an angry cat, all bristles and narrowed eyes.

"Christina!" Stacey was overjoyed as she flung herself at the teen, who rebuked the hug coldly. Her glare could pierce glass and it was aimed directly at the blonde who was continuously trying to touch her.

"How are you? Are the kids alright?" Undeterred, Stacey tried to groom Christina's glossy black locks, only to have her hands swatted away.

"Are the kids alright?" Christina repeated, incredulous. Anger made her words fall like blows. "Like you care. _Three days _we waited on you and you never came home! _We could have died_!"

Tears lashed down Stacey's cheeks, falling unheeded.  
"I'm sorry, Christina. I thought of you every minute of the day—I just couldn't leave,"

"Stacey?" Chavo peered out from around his sister, his face one of wonderment.

He accepted Stacey's hug, latching his arms around her neck. He clung to her just as tightly as she did to him. Christina looked on, seething.

"Where have you been? Is Mom with you?"

"No hun, I'm sorry, but she isn't. Are you doing okay?"

"He's fine." Christina cut in, bodily inserting herself between her brother and Stacey. "We're fine without you."

With a furious glare, Christina herded her sibling and younger cousins out of the kitchen towards the living room.

"What was that all about? You know Christina?"

"I know her." Wiping her tears with the back of her hand, Stacey looked after the departing four. "I'm the big sister."

_In the living room, three seconds later_

"Explain it to me then."

Christina's only response was a sullen glare as she set her cousins to coloring in the funny pages. Having followed Christina into the living room, Kinsey observed the siblings settling into the paper. Chavo held the Sports page, but Kinsey suspected that he was listening to them.

"Stacey says,"

"She's wrong." Emphatic, Christina continued. "Just because she says something doesn't make it true."

Processing this puzzling response, Kinsey decided to wait it out. Settling next to Saniah, she watched as Marmaduke was given a kitty companion. Kid had some talent for a six year old.

"Stacey's the daughter of Dan and Lisa Fullerton." Setting several pens on the coffee table with more force than necessary, Christina barged on. "Chavo and mine's parents are Macaria and Cesar Valencia. See the problem?"

"She's your step sister."

"She's Dan's daughter."

"How long ago did they get married?"

"She's Dan's spoiled only daughter." Christina maintained, her chin jutting dangerously. "She ditched us. Not the other way around. I'm done with this."

She was done with talking too and so Kinsey returned to the Kitchen, Chavo's eyes weighing heavily on her back.

"Don't." Stacey cut off wearily but not unkindly. "I appreciate t, Kinsey. This is between Christina and me, and it's been going on long before people started eating each other."

Stacey continued to pick at her Orange Chicken as Carol began to herd children upstairs. As howls erupted at the word 'bath', Kinsey marveled at the domestic bomb that had erupted in their life. Her eyes wandered back over to the door- the heavy oak cabinets nailed over them, the gun holding man standing guard next to it.

Her heart ached as she glanced towards the living room, her mind a minefield of memories of the last few dangerous days.


	4. Chapter 4: Perilous PE

_Thursday 8 AM_

The sound of running feet in the hall bolted Ryan out of his fitful sleep. Seizing the pistol from the night stand, he peered into the hall. His heart was racing as horrible images were conjured in his mind- only to leave him with a sick feeling when Kinsey and Christina exited their room, Christina being dragged by the hand by Saniah.

_I could have shot a six year old. _Ryan chided himself, ducking back into the room to find his shirt and pistol holster.

"- dating about three months." Christina's voice drifted in as Ryan shook out his spare shirt, feebly pressing out the worse of the wrinkles. "How about you and Ryan?"

"Oh no." Kinsey's laugh drifted in. "We're crew, not dating."

"Sure about that?" Cristina's voice sounded sly to Burke's ears as his face burned. "Wouldn't know that from-"

"Trust me. There's nothing there."

_Downstairs, Kitchen_

"Gawd it's early." Burke grumbled as he surveyed the fridge. "We haven't got up this early- uh, let me check. Ever."

"Kids get up early." Ryan replied with a distracted air, glancing towards around. "Where's everybody?"

"Tietz and the guys went across the street." Burke started to lineup ingredients for scrambled eggs. "To that big ol' house with the porch so they'd have a better vantage point. Most of the kids are getting up, Carmen's making a grocery list- I'm not kidding, should have seen the size of this thing. She's going to send us down to the corner store or something." Burke laughed, although it died when he turned and took in Ryan's expression.

"Then we're going to hit the hospital and get a refill on your meds."

"What? I don't have 'meds'."

"Yeah? So why do you look like the only guy whose figured out the worlds gone to hell?"

Ryan didn't answer crossing over to peer out of the barricades.

"Yeah, that wasn't a bad dream, man." Burke continued on, undeterred by Ryan's lack of attitude. "Hell, we're having Burke's Special Eggs! With uh- bacon."

"Great." Ryan replied flatly, with no enthusiasm. He certainly didn't feel like caring about breakfast choices, but stated he'd have cereal instead just to be contrary. Something about Kinsey's flippant attitude had pissed him off. Just what was so God awful about him? He tuned back into Burke, staring back across the dining room at Burke who now resembled an actual cook- apron and all.

"-so how about you pull your head out of your ass before you scare the small fry."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that." Ryan muttered as he left the kitchen, heading back upstairs where he could presumably avoid social interaction for awhile.

_Thursday 8:49 AM_

"You're all bad moody."

Jolted out of his musing, he realized Kinsey- and her ever present companion, Christina, he noted with irritation- had come up beside him. Everyone was out on the road again, heading to the nearest store. He played it cool, quickly thinking up a reason to walk up ahead with Tietz.

Tietz thankfully wasn't prone to any personal commentary and they seemed to reach the store in record time. 'Sears' wasn't where he'd normally shop and he sure hoed the kids weren't choosy.

He joined Tietz and the MPD in entering the store first to ensure that it was safe. After a quick cleanup to spare the kids the worst of it, everyone else flowed in. Ryan noticed that Kinsey and Carol were leading the kids downstairs to the kids department. He headed into the power tools area, joining most of the men there.

"No one's hit here yet?" Horst, an officer with reddish brown mustache and a pack being readily filled with boxes of nails, questioned.

"Doesn't look like it." Linc rattled a locked cage below the power tools. "You see the keys at the register?"

"Nope." Ryan replied after walking over to check. Not mentioning the blood stains he saw, he raised his eyes to the far wall.

"Find me a ladder, I can get the stock up there."

As Ryan passed power tools down to Linc's waiting pack, he glanced to the officers stocking up on other necessities of barricading- with the exception of Gambe and Tietz. The two remained on duty at the entrance, weapons held at the ready. As he descended to move the ladder, he noticed Tietz holding the radio to his ear. An odd feeling shot down his spine as he raised his voice.

"Something wrong?"

"It's Carmen." Tietz replied, indicating Carmen and her husband who had stationed themselves on a nearby roof to keep watch.

"They're saying something, but I can't- no, get your finger-"

As he chided the use of the radio, something came through-

"-ten of them-" SCREEECK! -"more--" SCREEEK! "- out-"

"Anyone go with the kids?" Ryan broke in, a bead of sweat forming on his brow. Not waiting for an answer, he headed towards the stairs. Behind him, he heard Gambe cry a warning- and then the guns started to fire.

"Kinsey!" He shouted as he took the stairs two at a time, Linc at his back. "Time to go!"

Downstairs, he and Linc emerged into land of the _Transformers_ and _Hannah Montana_ as each kid was quickly attached to his or her backpack and hurried upstairs.

Burke had stationed himself at the top of the staircase, falling in step with the hustling group.

"Tietz, Arogollon and Cross set up at the gas station across the street to get them in the crossfire with Gambe, Wate and Horst here. The Doroteos are on the roof- but there's a huge horde out there."

Ryan slipped in behind Gambe, leaning around the three MPD to peer out of the doors. The parking lot was a disaster- everywhere he looked; he saw a zed head heading straight for them. One or two fell, but more were lined up like good little soldiers behind them. Turning his head, he noticed that the crosswalk that connected Sears to the rest of the Mall was clear- and was the street behind the mall. Directly in front of him on top of the GoodYear Tire building next to the gas station, he could see the Doroteos picking off the ones closest to the building, staggering their shots to cover while the other reloaded.

"We can get them out that way." Ryan moved back so that the crew could lean past him and see the clear path to the north. "That Starbucks should be our first point." Kinsey decided her brow furrowing. "That outside bistro- two of us could flank it and the kids could run in a straight line closest to the building, reach the street."

"Yeah, okay. Get the kids ready."

"Get them ready to outrun murderous fiends? How do you propose I do that?"

"Shut up. You'll scare the kids."

Ryan threw her a look, before conceding the point. "What do I tell the kids?"

"Foot race."

Staggering the children into small groups with one adult runner and one armed person took only a few seconds, but the time seemed to drag far too long.

"Okay." He addressed Carol and her four little girls. "We're going to run for the Starbucks- "

Then they were doing it, running all out with frightened crying and pounding feet. He led the way to the bistro and ducked behind it, knocking down some condiments to prop himself for a more stable shooting position.

"Get to the McDonalds." Ryan pointed out the McDonalds' drive through several yards away which had stable brick arches as the next point. "Kinsey will be there in a flash."

As he spoke to Carol, his eyes were drawn to the little girl beside her. She was the most stoic little girl, her heart shaped face washed with fear although she was not crying like the others. Blonde hair was swept to the side and clipped with a pink butterfly barrette; her clothes were carefully coordinated of a white and pink pinstriped dress. An image of a loving family dressing the girl and sending her off to school made Ryan's throat tighten. She should be playing in a playground, not running through hell.

"You're going to be okay." He assured her impulsively. "What's your name?"

"Kya." The little girl replied in a clear voice, the waver of uncertainty barely audible.

"Go win yourself a race, Kya."

Although when Kinsey arrived with the Valencia lot and Linc, she had other ideas.

"I'm staying here with you." She informed an indignant Ryan. "We're working in pairs- Burke's gonna join up with Linc, then we'll cover everyone getting out."

"No, go with-" Yet Linc had already led the siblings and cousins after Carol and even as he watched the line of children and their attached adults move, Burke had led Stacey and several more children to where Ryan and Kinsey were defending. Ryan looked back to the children, trying to find the little girl in the pinstriped dress. After a moment, he latched on that she'd already moved onto safety.

As Burke gathered the most hesitant little boy to him and he and Stacey herded the kids onward, the closest zeds honed in on the bistro.

He and Kinsey fired fervently, barely marking the zeds who fell and those who lumbered on relentlessly. He didn't notice when the sound of the children crying had faded until the three MPD who had been defending from Sear's entrance joined them behind the bistro.

"All the kids got out." Horst assured, pressing more clips into their hands. "The Dorteos are surrounded. Tietz' group is going to extract them and we're going to meet up with the kids."

Reloading, Ryan leaned around the bistro to discover that the horde was nearly upon them. Ten- twenty? - pairs of decaying hands were stretched towards them. The run towards the McDonalds was a terrifying rapport of the gunfire from those behind him, covering his and Kinsey's run- and the freakish Jack in the box appearances of zeds that would suddenly pop up in their path. His heart sank when they came across a child's pink backpack in their path. Not breaking stride, he swept it up and continued on, not noting Kinsey's glance. His jaw worked as he suppressed horrible fates for the pack's owner, pushing his body harder to reach those kids.

"Dorteos are safe." Tietz's voice came over the radio. "How are the kids?"

"Safe." Kinsey replied, turning to watch the children exuberantly reconnect with one another.

"Good. We're going to move around the horde, join up with you at their place. "

"See you there." Kinsy signed off and moved to join Ryan, who was crouching next to a young girl.

"You have my backpack." She accepted it happily from Ryan. "It fell."

"But you won that race." Ryan smiled. "So it's all right sweetheart."

He turned to see Kinsey watching him with a peculiar expression. When she realized he was looking at her, she relayed that Tietz's group was alright.

"Time to get the kids home." Raising his voice, he began to urge the kids to move.

"Come on, munchkins- how'd you like PE today? Time for a nice cool down walk home..."

_Thursday 11:29 AM_

_Doroteo Estate_

Walking into the middle room, Ryan found Kinsey bent over the dining room table. Moving closer, he realized that she was fervently flipping through pages of a notebook.

"Whats up?"

Kinsey gave him a distracted glance and returned to the notebook, turning several pages in quick succession.

"I'm trying to map out the best route."

"Best route to what?"

Settling down beside her, he could see an unfolded map of the city stretched across he lap.

"To find the kids parents."

He reached over and took the map from her, noting several highlighted areas. "You have all of the houses highlighted- so when do you want to do this?"

She glanced up to him, her brow furrowed with thought. "You'll go with me?"

"Well, you're sure as hell not going alone. I bet the kids will settle down after this morning- let's go round up the guys and get going."

Her forehead smoothed out in relief as she accepted Ryan's hand up. His heart beat a bit faster as she gave his hand a squeeze before releasing him, settling down to gather up her map. He headed out to round up help for the search and designate babysitters.


End file.
